For more than four centuries, the Mercator projection has shaped one of the world’s most familiar views of the planet.
The icon map was designed to make navigation on the Earth’s oceans easier, but it came with a cost: the farther a place lies from the equator, the more dramatically its size is exaggerated.
On Sept. 4, 2026, the United Nations General Assembly endorsed the Equal Earth projection, an equal-area world map published in 2018, and encouraged governments, schools, media, and technology platforms to use it wherever the comparative size of continents matters.
Every flat map has to give something up, and the two below make different trade-offs.
Mercator, on top, keeps compass bearings straight and pays for it in area, stretching land more as it approaches the poles. Equal Earth, beneath it, keeps area exact and lets shapes bend slightly instead. Africa, Canada, and Greenland are highlighted on both so you can see what happens to each when the projection changes.
